Korean Air Lines flight 015

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Korean Air Lines flight 015
Boeing 747-2B5B, Korean Air Lines AN0600191.jpg

An identical machine from Korean Air Lines
Accident summary
Accident type Controlled flight into terrain : missing out (touching down in front of the runway)
place Seoul Gimpo Airport , South Korea
Korea SouthSouth Korea 
date November 19, 1980
Fatalities 15th
Survivors 211
Injured 4th
Aircraft
Aircraft type United StatesUnited States Boeing 747-2B5B
operator Korea SouthSouth Korea Korean Air Lines
Mark Korea SouthSouth Korea HL7445
Departure airport Los Angeles International Airport , California , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
Stopover Anchorage Airport , Alaska , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
Destination airport Seoul Gimpo Airport , South Korea
Korea SouthSouth Korea 
Passengers 206
crew 20th
Lists of aviation accidents

On the Korean Air Lines Flight 015 (flight number IATA : KE015 , ICAO : KAL015 , call sign: KOREAN AIR 015 ) took place on 19 November 1980, a serious air accident, when a Boeing 747-2B5B of Korean Air Lines for a transpacific Scheduled intercontinental flight from Anchorage to Seoul touched down in front of the runway at Gimpo Airport . In the incident, 15 of the 226 occupants on board the machine died.

machine

The aircraft involved in the accident was a Boeing 747-25B5, which was one year and eight months old at the time of the accident. The machine was assembled at the Boeing plant in Everett , Washington state , and made its maiden flight on March 23, 1979. The aircraft had the factory number 21773 , it was the 366th Boeing 747 from ongoing production. On April 11, 1979, the aircraft was delivered new to Korean Air Lines, where it went into service with the aircraft registration HL7445 . The four-engine long-range wide-body aircraft was equipped with four turbofan engines of the type Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7Q equipped.

Passengers, crew and flight plan

The scheduled intercontinental flight KE015 was supposed to run from Los Angeles Airport to Seoul Gimpo Airport. A stopover for refueling was planned in Anchorage. 206 passengers had started the flight on the second section from Anchorage to Seoul. There was a crew of 20 on board.

the accident

When the machine was approaching Gimpo, visibility was 1,000 meters under clouds of fog. The pilots received clearance to land on runway 14. The machine touched down 90 meters in front of the runway threshold on an embankment with an incline of 45 degrees. The main landing gear was torn off to the rear and pushed into the cargo hold through the underside of the fuselage, where the struts were torn. The machine skidded on the nose landing gear and the underside of the fuselage over the runway. The wings remained intact and the tanks were not damaged. However, a fire broke out in the cargo compartment when the leaking hydraulic fluid was ignited by flying sparks in the area of ​​the broken struts. There was no fuel fire. The machine quickly filled with smoke. The fire reached the interior through the ventilation slots in the floor and spread to the seats. The fire spread quickly in the hull. The smoke became thicker and thicker within a short time.

Evacuation and casualties

The evacuation of the machine went smoothly, but because of the rapidly spreading fire, some occupants inhaled fumes. Others were injured while leaving the machine. Nine passengers and six crew members suffered fatal injuries, and four other passengers were seriously injured.

root cause

The cause of the accident was determined to be an incorrect approach procedure by the crew, who continued the approach below the glide path without having the runway in sight until the aircraft hit the runway.

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